Feedback and Aha Moments!

Please refer to the Orange County Deaf Literacy Project as one way to bring services and Fairview to your area. Go to the following link: http://www.theolingroup.com/clients. Scroll down to the Orange County Deaf Literacy Project to see what a group of enthusiastic teachers put together!

————————————————————————————————————————————–Hi Everyone. I just had to share this moment that I had today. Today a student asked me about a character in a story “making friends.” She stopped herself after she signed it using the TRADITIONAL “MAKE” sign and signed, “That is the wrong sign.” She quickly went through the other signs that she has memorized for “MAKE” and realized that none of the Fairview signs for MAKE worked in that context. She looked at me with a puzzled expression because we know, of course, that FV is the be all and end all of the English language. (smile!!!) So I asked her to think about it and to come up with a different sign she thought was more appropriate. After thinking for just a moment, she re-signed, “Will Marcus MEET (make) many new friends?”PERFECT!! Then she was funny because she “ANNOUNCED” to the class that they all had to “ADD to their FV dictionaries yet ANOTHER meaning for MAKE. ” She was very excited with her discovery.

I, of course, was THRILLED, an ENGAGED BRAIN!!! YEAHHHH! Score one for the team!

Janet, Teacher (California)

————————————————————————————————————————————–I was about to introduce the idea of going on a fieldtrip this coming Monday. We usually don’t take field trips on Mondays, usually Fridays. I pointed to the calendar and asked the class, “GO FIELD TRIP EVERY DAY?” as I pointed to each day of the week.They answered no.“GO FIELD TRIP WEEKLY?” (signing WEEKLY on top of the calendar).Then, Joshua suddenly signs the phrase, [EVERY FRIDAY.] I couldn’t believe it! We just finished learning about the time signs under the Bridging List Preprimer level. It didn’t stop there. I handed him the Bridge List flashcards and he picked the correct card [every (day of the week)] 7.Joshua came to us last spring from the Philippines. He NEVER attended school there and he only pointed at things. He didn’t even know his name. He’s ten years old.

Sandy, Teacher (California)

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Hello, Fairview. Well, I am finally getting caught up from my week out of the office. One of the first things I heard upon my return was about how great your workshop was – both content and delivery!! I have attached the feedback form and you will notice on the last question about overall rating, it was a perfect “5”. All 25 participants indicated that on a scale of 1(low) – 5 (high) this was a “5”. Super training!! Participants seemed to think the practical strategies were quite valuable including Dolch words and bridging techniques. I always look at the questions on next steps and how will you know that it worked and found many steps toward implementation, data gathering and progress monitoring which fits perfectly into our Instructional Decision Making Model.

Kathy, Professional Development Coordinator, (Iowa)

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Wow, when we first arrived in Jamaica our host, the principal from the Montego Bay Campus made it very clear that she did not want us to “bore” her teachers. She told us that the teachers were sick of workshops that were filled with useless information. No pressure . . . . As the week progressed, the teachers’ excitement grew. They enjoyed all the workshops and were very grateful for the Dolch and Bridging cards. As they gained experience in how to use them, they became more excited. One of the neat things our team noticed was the teachers incorporating it in their own signing. So many of the hearing teachers are not very experienced signers and are put into the classroom with little or no experience in signing, so they have to learn as they go. The cards showed them that there are multiple signs for specific words based on the concept and we showed them how to use the cards with their students. I believe that they will help the teachers be more effective in their classroom. The woman who presented on reading also showed them how to incorporate the cards into reading and had the teachers work with the cards and some story books together. By the end of the week, the teachers came to us and told us that this was the first time in 10 or more years that they felt like the training they received was something they could use in their classroom. We were blessed to establish many continuing friendships with the teachers. The principals hope that we can come back again next year and work with the teachers again to continue what was started this year. Thank you so much,

Quita Farley, Teacher (Texas)

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Fairview is my guru–it is THE BEST thing to happen in Deaf Ed in the last 30 years that I have been teaching! When I retire I want to work for you guys!

Karlene, Teacher

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I am happily using the fairview materials with my deaf and hard of hearing students. I LOVE this program, and have seen a lot of improvement in just one week! I wanted to tell you too, that I have a student who has a progressive loss, and has not learned sign language very much until this year. When I started using this program a week ago, was the first time I have ever seen him sign to me. He talks, but it is difficult to understand. This program is the motivation he needs to encourage him to learn sign language.